15 – 17th of April Moscow Helsinki Group led a training seminar for the employees of the Regional Ombudsmen apparatus for human rights and for employees of Regional commissions for human rights of the Russian Federation. The seminar was devoted to fundamental aspects of the theory of human rights and the practice of human rights activity. (27-APR-2005)
It’s an interesting precedent because Russian state power is usually characterized by ignoring the opinion and activities of non-governmental organizations. At that time human rights activists representing non-governmental organizations taught civil servants the peculiarities and difficulties of human rights work. They managed to show what it means to be a human rights activist and explain how they would like to cooperate with the devices of representatives for human rights and where they need support.
On the other hand, the employees of the Regional Ombudsmen spoke about their problems and asked for professional advice. The most problematic and difficult questions were discussed in the seminars. A lot of the representatives of the Regional Ombudsmen arrived at the conclusion that they need to reform their apparatus. All of the participants expressed their hunger to continue this program of training-seminar, finding it useful, interesting and very important.
Photos: Maria Paramonova
